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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 124 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. We're on a ________________ here.
  2. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  3. David sat on the ________________.
  4. That was a fun ________________.
  5. The band played a military ________________ at the parade.
  6. The tickets are free of ________________.
  7. We had a fire ________________ at school today.
  8. His birthday is in either ________________ or April.
  9. Grandma has made a Swiss ________________.
  10. Where can I ________________ my mobile?
  11. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  12. Roulette is a ________________ of chance.
  13. Jason, who was in ________________ of the project, was dismissed for corruption.
  14. The dagger's metal was presumably from the same meteor ________________.
  15. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  16. I need a ________________ to install the towel rack.
  17. In jazz, ________________ was gradually being replaced by bebop.
  18. He's taking a ________________ right now.
  19. The teacher called the ________________ to see who was absent.
  20. We will have lived in Kyoto for eight years next ________________.
  21. We took cover from the thunder ________________.
  22. The coach helped Matthew straighten out his golf ________________, improving his game.
  23. The soldiers did ________________ on the parade ground every morning.
  24. The pointer is employed to find upland ________________.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. roll — on a roll
  2. spring — of water
  3. swing — to play on
  4. game — a match
  5. march — music
  6. charge — a price
  7. drill — a practice
  8. march — the month
  9. roll — a cake
  10. charge — electricity
  11. spring — the season
  12. game — a kind of play
  13. charge — in control
  14. shower — a meteor shower
  15. spring — a coil
  16. drill — the tool
  17. swing — music
  18. shower — to wash
  19. roll — a list
  20. march — the month
  21. shower — rain
  22. swing — in golf
  23. drill — army training
  24. game — wild animals

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com